February 2016 #2

[haquoi123]

We're into thread 2! Can't believe our babies have been here this long!

You see I get that I can keep him on stage one formula, but I can't find in the wisdom of mumsnet why I would want to? I understand stage one gives them everything they need, but why is stage two bad? It's something I see all over this site with no compelling reason not to move across.

handbag I think it's because nutritionally it's not much different I've put the link to nhs choices info below.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/types-of-infant-formula.aspx

Does anyone have any idea how to stop Ds biting my boob when I'm feeding him, with 2 teeth it bloody hurts!

We have spots here, most likely chicken pox! I'm not taking the idea of staying away from people very well. After three days of being constantly attached to the baby, I put him down and got DH to take over trying to get him to sleep and went and watched Olympic reruns. I feel awful about it - poor lamb is actually really good natured and barely crying, I just desperately needed some me time. Fingers crossed it won't take too long for him to get better.

carrot I was massively against having another child until ds hit 3 months, and then thought I might be pregnant for a number of reasons. However we've just booked a holiday for next summer (previous experience means I will never go abroad while pregnant), and I find sex very very painful. So my aim is to heal properly first, have my holiday and then maybe start trying. If not for those reasons I'd probably be broody right now!

clumsy, loads of people say take the baby off, put it down and wait, then reattach once your point has been made /got your courage back up! Ds nips without teeth so I'm dreading them arriving!

Oh no haq I hope Ds gets better soon! It's horrible when they get it so little. Don't feel bad for having me time we all need it

I have tried bringing him off he just bites again after, I know he is testing his teeth but ow!

Handbag, the compelling reason is price. First stage/infant formula is cheaper!

Aptamil's the same price for any of the stages. And yes I'm terribly PFB and he's on the profutura, aka the most expensive one! It just seems odd that mumsnet wisdom is so anti stage two/stage three without any reasoning behind it. He's still on stage one right now because we have several tubs - I keep picking it up when I'm in a shop as I once struggled to find some in town when we were low on supplies.

I guess it would be different if you were switching from breastmilk, but I've bottle fed from week 2 so I would be reluctant to change milk now when the infant milk works well for my ds and there is no academic research out there that shows that switching to a follow on milk has any benefits above and beyond infant formula. If you are switching from breastmilk then I would say just try a few until you get one that your baby can drink happily enough, whether it be the cheapest or most expensive!

Should also have added that I generally trust health service advice to stick with infant milk unless your hv or doc says otherwise

I don't think there is any reason not to switch to stage 2 milk, other than there is no need to. If I recall correctly follow on milk was only invented because they were banned from advertising or promoting infant formula so they got the brands out there by advertising follow on milks instead.

Oh no haquoi, poor ds! Don't feel guilty, we all need a break sometimes.

Coffee we have talked about another baby but want to enjoy dd first. I only have 18 months between the big two (then an 8 year gap) and it was hard work so I'd like a bit of a bigger gap now. But not too big a gap...

arghh only 2 days of maternity leave left! I don't want to go back to work! Sorry just starting to stress now, settling in at nursery went well yesterday and he has another session tomorrow so I don't know why I'm so nervous to leave him.

Hi all! Welcome coffee
Struggling to keep up at the moment but we're all OK...
Got back from holiday Monday. Had a fab time with 5 other families but sleep was minimal so still feeling knackered!

We don't seem to get many wake ups but think that's because babycud stays awake so long with each one! Not sure whether the problem was the cot being on a slope (v old house!) Being in with us or the teeth that are just starting to poke through the gums. At any rate, he's been much better since we got back and the teeth appeared so desperately trying to make up the deficit!

We had the boob biting yesterday clumsy. It was awful! Brought tears to my eyes and full on baby screaming from being taken off the boob ended up expressing for first time in months and doing bottle feed at bedtime last night and early this morning. Fortunately no biting today. Guess it was related to teething but really hope it doesn't happen again. Sorry no real tips.

On a more positive note food has been going well with no real dislikes so far but a definite preference for anything sweet! Think babycud has eaten more veg in a month than ds1 has in 3 years only downside is the constant cleaning up and actually having to think what to give him...

Don't worry about the food haq he'll get there in his own time. My hv said throw everything suitable at babycud and see what sticks. Hope the pox isn't causing too much bother and passes soon...

Enjoy your last days off clumsy and try not to stress, you'll get back into the swing of it in no time! Not that I can talk, I'm not looking forward to going back...

Back to school for the big two today and my plans for a sort out and clean scuppered by a miserable clingy baby. Sigh. Not sure if it's teething or if something she ate hasn't agreed with her maybe as she's been sick (posseted really) a few times which she doesn't often.

How did the big ones get on troika? Dd's not back till Wednesday! I hope baby feels better soon!

Nursery can't get over how happy Ds was at his first full day! Did get a call at 3 to see if he could have some paracetamol for teething but other than that he didn't stop smiling what a relief! Tomorrows mission is not to cry in the car after dropping him off, I'm such a muppet!

We have a tooth!

How's your dd troika?
Glad baby liked nursery clumsy. How are you finding being back at work?

Yay to a tooth clara!!

We're just bumbling along here, I'm starting to build work back up but taking a few knocks to my confidence with long term students cancelling, etc., and I think ds is sensing the anxiety. He's very out of character at the moment! I'm having nursery wobbles as well, despite booking him in for a day a week, I'm on the verge of cancelling it...

Hello everyone!

How quickly is time going at the moment? Madness!

clara - yay for the tooth! We have two here and he's started working on more. So cute to look at but he's getting bitey! Everything goes in his mouth.

clumsy - hope everything's still going well. You're so brave! Glad he's enjoying himself!

Troika - how's the rest of the week gone? I can't imagine having more than one baby to organise. How you get them to school on time is beyond me!

As for us, my baby is growing up! He had a really weird sleep day yesterday - got up 8.15 (he wakes at 6.15, has a bottle then I pump then we go back to bed for cuddles and a doze) and stayed awake til 12.30 when he fell asleep for 2hrs. Up at 2.30ish then went for another nap at 5.30 and we had to get him up at 8.45! I was so worried he's be up all night but he went 11.30-6.15. Must have just really needed the sleep.

Think we're on the cusp of him dropping to two naps per day and also four bottles a day. He's started to actually eat food although I'm still throwing a lot away and he's constantly babbling. He's also mobile - he scoots around on his back or rolls until he gets where he wants to be! The cats do not like this as usually he wants to be close to them!

And me... Still pumping! I am cutting down but it's such an emotional thing. Giving him his last bottle of bm will be heartbreaking! I'm down to 4 a day most days but sometimes 5 for no reason other than I get more milk! I'm really done with it all and want my body back at last but I can't help myself!

I've also started a diet. I only put on 12lbs while pregnant (big girl to start with though) and lost that plus 7 more in the first three weeks. I've spent six months at exactly the same weight. Need to shift some though - so calorie counting like a crazy person. It makes me sad but I've realised how often I just pop to the kitchen and put a biscuit or something in my mouth. I miss food...

Haquoi - Sorry, meant to say hello and I understand the nursery wobbles! Do you think it would be good for him? What would you be doing with the extra time - working or do you have other plans?

Handbag I noticed how shocking my diet has become when we started weaning! I've made a concerted effort to cut out the crap because if ds can't have it, i probably shouldn't have it either! I've found since ds is eating and moving around more, I'm a lot busier so there's less time to think about eating a naughty biscuit or 6 anyway!

handbag hope the diet goes well for you but don't put too much pressure on yourself you will be chasing after a very active baby soon!

clara yay for the tooth! Hope the teething hasn't been too bad.

haq don't get too down other students will turn up I'm sure

Work is horrible as usual but looking for a new job, maybe even a change of career if I can manage to work out what the hell I want to do with my life

Ds is teething again and has some terrible nappy rash poor little mite I'm covering him with sudocrem but it's not doing much to help. I leave him nappy free when I can too, does anyone have any ideas what else I can do?

clumsy Not something we've had a lot of, but I've seen Metanium recommended lots on MN. It's available at Boots.

Clumsy maybe try an eco nappy like moltex (which we get online) or naty (sainsburys stock them). They claim to reduce instances of nappy rash as no chemicals in them. We switched to moltex very early on with ds and have not had any bad rashes yet but that might just be our luck! Worth the cost of a packet anyway?

We use naty when we're out of cloth nappies/being lazy, they're great (although I haven't got anything to compare it with). I've heard good things about metanium as well but haven't used it myself.

Still on the nursery wobbles - part of me thinks that he's only 7 months, I can put him in nursery a day a week later when I actually have work on that day (the idea is I'd use the day for admin/marketing/writing). I'm back to work on other days and we'd save money. I just can't face the nursery, having booked him in problem is he's goes there for a crèche anyway so I have to chat to them before I go on Wednesday. DH thinks I'm panicking too much but he doesn't have to face them.

Oh handbag I'm so impressed by your pumping journey. Are you planning on finishing at some point soon?

Ds has been manic over sleep recently, so weird. He woke up screaming last night, nonstop for an hour, kept making himself sick and wouldn't respond to DH or me. We stripped him naked, cuddled, attempted to feed, sang to him, spoke firmly, nothing dented it. He's such a chilled out baby usually so we were both panicking. Eventually DH held and rocked him tummy to the floor and he started to calm down. Then he did it all again a couple of hours later. Dreading what happens tonight. Although today he had a 3 hour nap, although whilst attached so I finished my book!

clumsy what career change would you do?

clara I'm another eating better because of ds. He needs vegetables so I might as well do some for me too...

Hi all!
Yay for teeth and getting mobile and successful pumping and surviving the beginning of term.

I can totally see why you're having nursery wobbles haq. It must be a lot harder when you are your own boss! Good luck working out how to get the best work life balance...

Sorry work is horrid clumsy. Any idea what you would like to do?

Sounds like you're in a similar situation to us handbag. I think we're normally on 2 naps a day now, with 3 meals and new timings for milk which I haven't really got the hang of! Unfortunately sleep has been variable but we have two teeth and a generally happy baby so can't complain!

Hi everyone. Sorry I'm so useless at keeping up. Hope you're all doing OK.

Big two now settled back at school. Just got dd1s secondary school application through which is a little scary. Dp laughed at me for welling up when I opened it! School run has messed up the good nap routine we had going on but as it made sod all difference to dd sleeping at night I have decided not to care.

Weaning has also made sod all difference to sleep. She loves food though!

I have been keeping a sleep log and most nights we get one or two 2.5 hour stretches and the rest 30 mins- 1hour. I can actually feel my brain getting smaller through sleep deprivation. Last night was better and we had two 3.5 hour stretches. Amazing.

I have no idea what to do. She did have a nap routine. We've got more of a feeding routine since weaning. We are pretty consistent at bedtime. She self settles in her cot at bedtime. But she wakes up all bloody night and can't get back to sleep without me cuddling or feeding her. I think the only thing I'm doing wrong is that she has a dummy. My only consolation is that dd1 was pretty bad, ds was a million times worse and it will end at some point.

Haquoi any further in the nursery decision? I have been having a few back to work wobbles. Largely because Dp doesn't want me to and I'm so tired! Also wondering how I'm going to get everything done! Not back til January though.

Metanium is amazing for nappy rash. Though it's disgusting stuff that turns everything yellow. Also dd1 got really bad nappy rash when teething and I was given canesten for it which worked a treat. She didn't actually have thrush, just weeping nappy rash.